 |
 |
 |
| Thursday, 26 February 2009 23:17 |
Uefa Cup round-up: Almeida’s Bremen stun Milan at San SiroValencia crash out at home; Meira and Danny through It was a mixed night for the Portuguese involved in Uefa Cup action this evening. With eight second-leg ties involving players from Portugal, half saw their side through to the last-16 of this year’s tournament, while for the other half continental competition is over for the season.Milan (Ita) 2-2 Werder Bremen (Ger)(3-3 on aggregate; Bremen win on away goals)Claudio Pizarro’s late double gave Werder Bremen a surprise away-goals victory over Milan at the San Siro, after it had seemed the Rossoneri were cruising towards the next round. With the two sides level at 1-1 heading into the match, Milan took a 2-0 half-time lead on the night through Andrea Pirlo’s penalty and Alexandre Pato’s 33rd-minutes strike, seeing them 3-1 up on aggregate at the break. Hugo Almeida started the match for Bremen, but it was following his substitution just after the hour that the Bundesliga side turned things around. First, Peruvian striker Pizarro headed in a Diego corner (68), before doubling his and Bremen’s tally with another header on 78 minutes to send the home side crashing out of this year’s competition. Valencia (Spa) 2-2 Dynamo Kiev (Ukr)(3-3 on aggregate; Kiev win on away goals)Troubled La Liga outfit Valencia were also surprise casualties, going out on away goals after a 2-2 draw with Dynamo Kiev at the Mestalla. Manuel Fernandes started in midfield and played the whole match for Los Ches, who managed to recover from Artem Kravets’ 34th-minute opener to go 2-1 up through Marchena (45) and Del Horno (54), only to concede a crucial second away goal, again to Kravets, on 73 minutes. Stuttgart (Ger) 1-2 Zenit (Rus)(Zenit win 4-2 on aggregate)Danny set up both goals for holders Zenit St Petersburg in Germany, with the Russians repeating their 2-1 victory over Stuttgart from the first leg. First the Portuguese crossed for Igor Semshov to open the scoring three minutes before the break, and after Gebhart had scored to give the hosts hope, Danny was again the provider for Viktor Fayzulin’s clincher on 86 minutes. Galatasaray (Tur) 4-3 Bordeaux (Fra)(Galatasaray win 4-3 on aggregate)Sabri Sarioglu scored a dramatic last-minute winner to send Galatasaray into the next round, following a thrilling match at the Ali-Sami Yen. The Turkish champions, who replaced manager Michael Skibbe with club hero Bulent Kormaz earlier in the week, had looked to be heading out on away goals until the late intervention. Fernando Meira took his place in what during recent weeks has been a suspect Galatasaray defence, and further doubts were raised when David Bellion gave Bordeaux the lead after less than a minute. The hosts managed to fight back, however, and led 3-1 with twenty minutes to play, before a quickfire double from Chamakh and Cavenaghi put Bordeaux back in the driving seat, only for Sarioglu to make himself a Gala hero in the dying moments. Deportivo La Coruna (Spa) 1-3 AaB (Den)(AaB win 6-1 on aggregate)La Liga side Deportivo suffered a heavy aggregate defeat to Denmark’s Aab, after three goals in five first-half minutes killed off their brief hope of turning the tie around. Trailing by three goals from the first leg, Depor were given a glimmer of hope when Sergio Gonzalez put them ahead on 38 minutes at the Riazor Stadium. However, with Ze Castro in central defence, the home side were undone when Jamaican striker Luton Shelton equalised, and Aab added two more in the space of a minute before the break through Andreas Johansson and Shelton’s second, to complete a convincing overall victory. St Etienne (Fra) 2-1 Olympiakos (Gre)(St Etienne win 5-2 on aggregate)Paulo Machado played the full ninety minutes for St Etienne as the Ligue 1 strugglers duly completed their elimination of Greek champions Olympiakos. The French side had surprised many with a 3-1 victory in Greece in the first leg, and goals from Payet (45’) Ilan (58’) saw them through, with Oscar Gonzalez registering a mere consolation for Olympiakos with fifteen minutes left. Metalist Kharkov (Urk) 2-0 Sampdoria (Ita)(Metalist win 3-0 on aggregate)Manuel da Costa made his European debut for Sampdoria in Ukraine, but could not help the Serie A side overturn their deficit from the first leg. Already trailing by 1-0 from the previous match in Genoa, Samp went down 2-0 on the night to goals from Serhiy Valyavev and Brazilian forward Jaja. Wolfsburg (Ger) 1-3 Paris Saint-Germain (Fra)(PSG win 5-1 on aggregate)Ricardo Costa watched from the bench as his Wolfsburg side were confidently dumped out of the competition by Paris Saint-Germain. The French side had a two-goal lead from the first leg, and the tie was all but sealed when Pegguy Luyindula put them ahead on the night with a 38th-minute penalty. Makoto Hasebe pulled on back for the hosts, but Jerome Rothen restored PSG’s lead on the night and Luyindula added a third. By Sean Gillen Add your comment |
